[0:00] good evening everyone and a warm welcome to our worship this evening it's good to come together in the house of god and to sit under his word and i play that as we gather tonight that we'd know his presence that we know his peace and that we know his blessing from the word so we're going to begin our service this evening by singing to god's praise the psalm number 95 psalm 95 i'm going to sing from verse 1 down to the end of the verse marked 5 6 psalm 95 verse 1 to 6 so come let us sing to the lord come let us everyone a joyful noise make to the rock of our salvation and you'll find that on page 357 of your books we will sing together to god's praise oh come let us sing to the lord come let us everyone a joyful noise make to the rock of our salvation and you'll stand out of our salvation and you'll see the great
[1:16] Come let us, everyone, a joyful noise Speak to the rock of our salvation Let us before His presence come With grace and thankful voice Let us sing sounds to Him with grace And make a joyful noise For God, a great Lord and great King
[2:21] Above all God He is Yet so fear that in His hands The strength of His sins To Him the spacious sea belongs For He the same did be The dry land also from His hands Is for my first day O come and let us worship Him
[3:29] Let us bow down with all And on our knees before the Lord The Maker let us fall We're now going to bow our heads and hearts In a word of prayer Let's pray together Our living God as we come into Your presence now Lord We thank You for the words of the psalmist there Words that echo in our minds and in our hearts So come and let us worship Him Let us bow down with all And on our knees before the Lord Our Maker let us fall O Lord may not only our heads be bowed Tonight in Your presence But our hearts And may we approach You Lord In a spirit of humility
[4:29] For You are indeed a great God A great King And above all gods You are Lord there is none like You Because You are our God and our Creator You are the God of whom Your word testifies to The one who is and was and evermore shall be The God who is from everlasting to everlasting The God who created this very world that we stand upon The God who created all things we see about us The God who flung the stars into space And we bless You Lord and we thank You That as we look around Even on a day such as this We can see the wonder and the beauty of Your creation A creation fashioned not by the hand of man But fashioned by the hand of Almighty God And eternal God we thank You That in Your mercy In Your time You created man In Your own image Lord You created him from the dust And You breathed into him Your breath And he became a living soul And Lord we thank You That when man was seen to be alone You created a fellow helper for him You created woman Lord
[5:29] And we thank You Lord That Your word bears testimony to you that But Lord as we look back And as we read off that testimony We can see that they fell into sin Because the enemy of our souls came And he tempted them Lord And he drew them from You Lord we know that their punishment was They're expelled from the garden From that good and perfect place That You had created for them And Lord You would have been justified In turning Your back on Your creation And just leaving us to ourselves But You're a God who's merciful A God who's loving And a God who's great And You promised Lord Even a way back then One who would come in the fullness of time And save mankind from his sins We thank You Lord For the prophets That foretold these truths And as we look Lord Through the words of the Bible And the Old Testament There are many prophecies Concerning the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ But Lord we rejoice in the fact That we can stand here tonight And we can look back in time We can open Your word And we can read off that Saviour Who was born into this world
[6:31] The one of whom it is said For God so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son That whosoever believes in Him Should not perish But have everlasting life And Lord as we are gathered here this night We pray that we would rejoice In our very hearts And that we would believe In the one whom You sent Lord we thank You for the record we have Of His death and Calvary And even last week Lord In this congregation It was remembered here Through this sacrament Of the Lord's Supper And O Lord we know That although Jesus died And although He suffered and died He rose again And the third day Showed Himself to many Then ascended up to heaven To take His place At Your right hand And we know that one day Lord That same Jesus will return And it is our prayer That each and every one Lord Gathered here And those whom we know And love And meet with on life's journey Would come to recognise that truth And make preparation for that day Our Heavenly Father Father we do thank You And we delight indeed In the fact
[7:31] That we're able to gather here together In the evening Of this Your day And open Your Word And listen to what You say To us from it And it is such a blessing And it is such a privilege Lord And it's something We ought not to take lightly Our Heavenly Father We do ask You to be mindful Of those who would love To be with us here tonight But are unable to join us Whether it be through old age Or infirmity Or even illness Or bereavement Or for any other reason Lord And we ask and pray That You go to them Where they are And You would meet them At their point of need Eternal God We ask You to remember As we thought Those who are mourning this night Those who have lost loved ones And there's hardly a day Goes by But we see someone Ushered in to eternity And Lord we remind At the expense of others That here We have no continuing city But we do earnestly pray Lord For this night For those who are grieving And those who are suffering loss That You would draw nearer God And that You would bless them And that they would know That round about And underneath Are Your everlasting arms Sustaining them
[8:32] Upholding them And bringing them That comfort Lord Which is better than any comfort We can ever give Heavenly Father We pray for those Who are unwell at this time Those who may be ill at home Those who may be in the hospitals Those who are suffering Lord Who are waiting maybe for operations And we ask You to be with them Lord Remember too Anyhow receiving treatment And we pray That that treatment Lord Will be successful In curing their ailments We thank You Father For medicine We thank You Lord For the doctors And for the nurses Who tend to us And care for us Lord In these days And we ask You To uplift them And to strengthen them Lord And even to further A knowledge of medicine That Lord People would be able To recover From serious illness Lord eternal God We do thank You For this village For this community We commit it to You And we pray for it For each and every home In this area And we ask You Lord To move in amongst them And meet them And bless them According to their need We thank You Father For every home Represented here And pray too That You would speak to them Lord
[9:33] In that still small voice And encourage them We pray eternal God For the church We thank You for it Lord And what a blessing it is And we do pray Lord For the minister Of this congregation We pray for Donald And we pray for his wife Emma And that You'd bless them In their ministry together Lord For it is a joint ministry So Father encourage them In the days and months And even years That lie ahead And we pray that they would see Much fruit for their labours Lord remember the session In this congregation Remember the deacons court The members The Sunday school And all that goes on here In the life of this church May it indeed prosper For Your glory Lord remember other denominations And congregations as well Even now As they meet Round our town and island Be present with them Lord And bless them As we pray You'd bless us With the presence And in the person Of Your Holy Spirit So Father in heaven We just ask You now In Your mercy To accept our thanks For all You do for us Even this day Lord We thank You For the blessings You received For our daily bread For the health and strength
[10:33] To get out and about For even this morning For the sun that's on us And even now Lord For the rain that comes down All that's required Lord And Heavenly Father We thank You And Lord so often We neglect to give thanks To the Lord For His goodness and mercy Indeed the psalmist says It is a good thing for us To render thanks to God And we do so even now In the stillness of this moment So Father in Your mercy Continue with us In our time together Accept our thanks Lord For Your goodness For Your mercy And pardon our sin In Jesus precious name We pray Amen So if you have your Bibles We're now going to read God's word And you can turn with me To the Acts of the Apostles And chapter 3 The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 3 I'm going to read Through chapter 3 To the end of verse 4 Of chapter 4 So that's the book of Acts Chapter 3 Through to verse 4 Of chapter 4 So the book of Acts
[11:45] Chapter 3 And reading from verse 1 Read, read, and hear God's word together Now Peter and John Were going up to the temple At the hour of prayer The ninth hour And a man lame from birth Was being carried Whom they laid daily At the gate of the temple That is called The Beautiful Gate To ask alms of those Entering the temple Seeing Peter and John About to go into the temple He asked to receive alms And Peter directed his gaze At him as to John And said Look at us And he fixed his attention On them Expecting to receive Something from them But Peter said I have no silver and gold But what I do have I give to you In the name of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth Rise up and walk And he took him By the right hand And raised him up And immediately his feet And ankles were made strong And leaping up He stood and began to walk And entered the temple With them Walking and leaping And praising God And all the people Saw him walking And praising God
[12:45] And recognized him As the one who sat At the beautiful gate Of the temple Asking for alms And they were filled With wonder and amazement At what had happened to him While he clung To Peter and John All the people Utterly astounded Ran together to them In the portico Called Solomon's And when Peter saw it He addressed the people Men of Israel Why do you wonder at this Or why do you stare at us As though by our own power Or piety We have made him walk The God of Abraham The God of Isaac And the God of Jacob The God of our fathers Glorified his servant Jesus Whom you delivered over to Over and denied In the presence of Pilate When he had decided To release him But you denied The holy and righteous one And asked for a murderer To be granted to you And you killed the author of life Whom God raised from the dead To this we are witness And his name By faith in his name Has made this man strong Whom you see and know
[13:46] And the faith that is Through Jesus Has given this man Perfect health In the presence of you all And now brothers I know that you acted In ignorance As did also your rulers But what God foretold By the mouth of all the prophets That this Christ would suffer He has thus fulfilled Repent therefore And turn again That your sins May be blotted out That times of refreshing May come from the presence Of the Lord And that you may send The Christ appointed for you Jesus Whom heaven must receive Until the time For restoring all the things About which God spoke By the mouth of his holy prophets Long ago Moses said The Lord God will raise up for you A prophet like me From your brothers You shall listen to him In whatever he tells you And it shall be that Every soul Who does not listen To that prophet Shall be destroyed From the people And all the prophets Have spoken From Samuel And those who came after him Also proclaimed these days
[14:46] You are the sons of the prophets And of the covenant That God made with your fathers Saying to Abraham And in your offspring Shall all the families Of the earth be blessed God having raised up a servant Sent him to you first To bless you By turning every one of you From your wickedness And as they were speaking To the people The priests And the captain of the temple And the Sadducees Came upon them Greatly annoyed Because they were teaching The people And proclaiming in Jesus The resurrection from the dead And they arrested them And put them in custody Until the next day For it was already evening But many of those Who had heard the word Believed And the number of men Came to about Five thousand Amen And we Trust to the Lord With that a blessing To that reading of his own Holy and inspired word We're going to sing again Now to God's praise And this time We're going to sing From the Psalm number 84 Psalm 84 We'll sing from verse 1
[15:47] Down to verse 6 And you'll find that On page 338 Of your books Psalm 84 1 to 6 How lovely is thy dwelling place O Lord of hosts to me The tabernacles of thy grace How pleasant Lord they be How blessed Lord they be My thirsty soul My thirsty soul O Lord of hosts to see My thirsty soul Ye fins like lords to see My very heart and flesh cry out
[16:53] O living God for thee Behold the spot Behold the spot O find a pot And how sweating to rest The swallow also For herself A purchase Said a nest In thine own waters Where she's safe Her young ones forth may bring O thou almighty Lord of hosts Who art my God and King Blessed are they in thy house
[17:58] At where they ever give thee praise Blessed is the man who strength In whose heart are thy ways Blessed is the man who strength The Lord in whose heart are thy ways Then in to dig God dwells Also the rain that falleth down The pools with water fills Before we turn to God's word Let's just bow our heads briefly For a moment
[18:58] Our loving God and our heavenly Father As we come into your presence once again We do indeed thank you Lord For the way that is ever open And we pray eternal God As we come before you now As we seek to open your word And as we seek to listen to it We pray that you would have rest And Lord to take control of our minds Forbid Lord that our minds would wander To what we may have done already today Or what we might be yet to do tonight Or even in the week that lies ahead Remembering that none of us Have promised our next breath But instead Lord help us to focus On what you say to us Lord And we ask that you would grant us That hearing ear And that receptive heart Which is so necessary Lord When your word is opened And we pray this Lord Not just for the hearer But for the speaker alike And we ask it in Jesus precious name And for his sake Amen So we're going to look this evening At that portion that I read From the book of Acts
[19:59] From Acts chapter 3 Into chapter 4 Now the book of Acts Or the Acts of the Apostles The Apostles It's to me it's an amazing book From beginning to end It's packed full of adventurous stories We can see the working of the Holy Spirit And all the great things that are done Right from the very start All the way through to the end We can read of earthquakes We can read of storms Shipwrecks And all these things And the fact is that in and through it all Was the Lord God Almighty The Holy Spirit did incredible things In the book of Acts It's a history you could say Of the early church Of the spread of Christianity During the first 30 or so years After the Lord Jesus Christ Had died And been resurrected And gone to heaven And like I said It's a great story And you can't help But being encouraged As you read through it It's just so incredible So amazing
[20:59] So this evening As I said We're going to look at that portion That we read there And it's the story of course Of the lame beggar Being healed And as we read Peter and John Were going down to the temple At the hour of prayer The ninth hour Which was in fact Three o'clock in the afternoon And they had several times For prayer Back then in the temple days And they still I'm sure do To this very day The Orthodox Jews And you know We might well ask or wonder Why would Peter and John Who were now Christians Born again by the grace of God Why would they go down To the temple You would have thought That being Christians now They wouldn't go to the temple But they would have Their own place of worship And that they would go With their own types Instead of going in And entering into the temple But the commentators tell us That the early Jewish Christians Continued for some time After the forming of the church To attend temple services Because you see The breaking from Judaism
[22:00] Wasn't clear cut It wasn't clean And it wasn't instant And it took a while For these men Who were converted To change or to move on To break from Their traditional form of worship It was a gradual process And you know It's amazing to think That they were allowed To go down And into the temple To worship At the time of prayer You would have thought That maybe the Jews Would have stopped them They would have said No, no, no You've made your bed Go now and lie in it But no, not at all And it's evidence That God was working In these people as well Because they permitted The Christians The new born again Christians To enter into the temple And to engage in prayer As I said It wasn't an instantaneous break And it was almost as if They had been weaned away To what they had been used to For so many years So they went down To the temple to pray They continued In that act of worship
[23:01] But you know It's different of course today It's different for believers today Because when someone today Is born again By the grace of God We must make a clean break From the things of this world We must turn away from him And like Peter and John You know We are so blessed today When a person is born again By the grace of God We're so blessed In that we have the entire word of God From Genesis to Revelation Do you remember these men When they were converted back at that time All they had was the scriptures Of the Old Testament The New Testament hadn't been written It was in the process And it took a while for it to complete So we are blessed in that When we come to the Lord We've got the whole of the Bible to turn to For guidance For help For encouragement For teaching For all of these wonderful things These early wonderful Christians
[24:01] They were feeling their way Into a new found faith system And they were remarkable And we can see it How they relied And lent on the Lord And allowed his spirit To work through them Time and time again You know The second catechism Asks the question What rule has God given To direct us And how We may glorify And enjoy him And the answer I'm sure many of you Know the scripture The catechism of my heart And the answer The word of God Which is contained In the scriptures Of the Old and New Testament Is the only rule To direct us How we may glorify And enjoy him So we'd be well advised To look into the word of God Each and every day For guidance For help And to see What he says To us So these two men Were going down to the temple And upon approaching the temple
[25:03] Peter and John Were about to enter When they were interrupted By a beggar One of whom we are told Who was lame From birth He was lame From birth And he asked them For alms You know beggars It would seem Had their own Fixed patch Or place For example In Mark 10 and 46 We're told There of blind Bartimaeus Who sat by the roadside In Luke 16 and 20 We're told of Lazarus Who sat at the gate Of a rich man And here we have At the gates of the temple This beggar This beggar Who was walking And leaping eventually And praising God And we don't know his name We're not given his name But each one Had their own patch And they would be taken Each morning there By some of the friends Some of them Of course they couldn't walk This man couldn't walk So someone would have Had to carry him Down to the temple Down to his patch And they would have Placed him there And there he would have Spent the day begging And looking for alms
[26:04] Now we're told That this beggar Sat at the temple gate Called beautiful And this gate At the thought Was one of the largest Of the city gates And it was made From the most expensive And beautiful Corinthian bronze It was decorated And shaped And it was very ornate And it was made Of this beautiful bronze And it is said That this gate If it caught the rays Of a rising sun Was absolutely stunning And I can only imagine That that's why It was given the name Beautiful gate So leading From the gate Up to the temple Were a number of steps And this may well Have been the area That this beggar And others like him Were placed In order To beg For their day Now this Unfortunate man Was at it stated He was lame From birth Lame from birth This man had never walked He didn't know What it's like to walk
[27:05] He was unable To do any work Or to do any Of the other things That we or others Who have the use Of their limbs Take for granted So he had to resort To begging In order To survive And you know It was common In antiquity To see beggars In a public place And by and large They were well provided For if they were In the right place And you know It was considered Especially in the likes Of Jerusalem In the state of Judaism They wouldn't be left To starve For it was considered Praise worthy In those days To help out Or to give Alms To a beggar And of course On that day The beggar may find himself At the end of the day With sufficient money To meet his needs All he would need Is money for food And maybe for His bed Or whatever And in the course Of the day If he was in the right patch And if he was calling loud And if the people Who came past His hearts were moved They would maybe Give him a coin Give him a small coin
[28:05] And I would say That this was The case with this fellow And you know This fellow also He may well have been lame But I would say That he was also wise This fellow In his wisdom Had chosen A plum spot If there was Anywhere to choose For a beggar Surely This was a plum Spot At the gates Of the temple Because as I said At the beginning There was meetings There several times A day And people Would be coming And going To their prayer time And they'd be Passing this man And he would be Calling out And he'd be Shouting for alms And as these Jewish worshippers Passed on the way Into the temple It was likely That they would have Given him a coin It was unlikely It was unlikely That they would have Ignored him Because in these days It was considered As I said Praiseworthy To give alms To a beggar And at the gates Of the temple It would have Been difficult For one of these Worshippers
[29:06] To walk past And ignore that man Without giving him Even a small coin Because others Would have noticed And it wouldn't have Gone down well But if he gave the coin His box would As it were Have been ticked And I would say That this fellow Was also an opportunist He wouldn't miss out On a chance For we read That as he was Being carried To the temple gate When he saw Peter and John there He would have urged His friends Quick, quick Set me down Put me over there There's a couple of guys That I can try to So they would have Set him down And he would have Set himself And when Peter and John Came past He would have Called out onto them Arms Arms But you know On this occasion This man was On the one hand Going to be disappointed But on the other hand He was going to be elated He was going to be disappointed
[30:07] But then very quickly He was going to be elated For in the following verses We see a sequence Of events Unfold Which change This man's life Forever Forever And For Good So seeing Peter and John Come into the temple He looked up And he asked for arms And Peter looked Straight at him As did John And then Peter said Look at us Look at us He said Peter said This with authority And this man Turned and looked At Peter Peter wanted To get his full Attention And the beggar Then responded Instantly He gave his full Attention to Peter And you can imagine That man Just sitting there Having asked for arms And his hand Would be outstretched Expecting to receive A coin And Peter said
[31:08] In such authority Look at us And he did And he was just Sat there Looking up Towards Peter And John In anticipation Of receiving A coin Of some type That he asked for But then Came His disappointment Then came His disappointment His disappointment For Peter said I have no silver Or gold And he would have Thought What?
[31:37] No money? Oh no He would have thought But Peter Continued But what I have I give To you In the name Of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth Rise up And walk What a command What a command I have no Silver or gold But what I have I give to you In the name Of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth Rise Up And walk No time to think Or process What was being said To him Because Peter Took him by His extended arm And helped him up And instantly We read Instantly The man's feet And ankles Became strong You know One witty Preacher He actually Is recorded To have said He asked For arms And he received
[32:37] Legs This man Instantly Got the strength In his legs Back And what do we see In verse 8 And leaping up He stood And he began To walk And he entered The temple Walking And leaping And praising Peter and John No Praising God He stood up And he began To walk And he began To praise God God Instantly Instantly Instantly He began To praise God Can we Even begin To imagine This man's Emotions When that Happened to him There that day He would have Felt He would have Felt Wonder Awe Elation Gratitude All these
[33:38] Things That man Would have Felt Because in An instant His whole Life Was changed It was instant There was no Delay Although this Man had Never walked In his life There was no Period of Learning Or familiar Sation He could Walk Instantly He wasn't Like a baby When you see A little baby Starting to walk You can see The baby Shuffling along And then maybe To stand up Against a chair Or against a sofa Or something or other And they let go And then they fall Back down Then after a wee While they get up And try again Until eventually They reach the stage Where they stand up One day And maybe Wobble about And then they're off And they gain Confidence Each time they do it And then they're walking God willing For the rest of their lives But this man Didn't have any of that He had never Walked in his life And yet he stood up And he was able To walk Right away
[34:39] He was maybe A little nervous Because he would have Been unfamiliar With standing On his own two feet He may well Have been a little shaky For a few moments He would have been Unfamiliar with it As I said But he was up And once he was up He was off He was off This man's healing Was complete And total It didn't come In stages His simple act Of faith Was rewarded For when Peter Took his hand He didn't resist He didn't pull away He didn't ask Peter What do you think You're doing What are you talking about He took Peter's hand And in that moment He was Healed He knew That what Peter Ordered him to do Would happen Because in That command Came the Realisation That this Same Jesus Of Nazareth
[35:39] That Peter Mentioned there Was able to do Far beyond That which He could hope Or even imagine He knew In his heart Because Peter Spoke the name Of Jesus Christ With such authority He knew That what he had said Was possible And you know In that transaction Not only did the beggar Receive physical healing But he received Spiritual healing In that instant That beggar Was born again By the grace of God He was born again By the grace of God Through his faith Through his acceptance Of what Peter said About the Lord Jesus Christ He accepted He believed And he received He was healed Completely And instantly He obtained
[36:40] Unexpected blessings And his response Was as we read He went walking And leaping And praising God God Do you know Years ago In the Sunday school When we were Teaching the children We used to have A song that we'd teach Him and that we'd sing And it's just like Almost this chapter here Peter and John Went to pray They met A man on the way He asked for arms Opened his palms And this is what Peter did say Silver and gold Have I none But such as I have Given you In the name of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth Rise up And walk That's what was said And that's what's Happened But do you know That something like that That very same thing Can happen And it still does happen To this very day People's eyes Are opened And their hearts Are changed And they too Can go on their way Following this man's example Praising God
[37:46] Now this man of course Knew That Peter and John Were instrumental In his healings But he also knew That it came from A greater source It was beyond them To do it on their own Because they were just Men like himself Albeit men Willing to be used As a channel For the Holy Spirit Of God To work through And achieve His purposes He would be Ever grateful To Peter and John For their part In his healing But he gave all the glory To the one To whom It was due He went into the temple Walking and leaping And praising God And so too Ought we To continually Praise God For what he gives us In our lives Each and every day Even unto the giving Of his own son Our Lord And Jesus
[38:46] Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To this man's joy His healing And his new Found freedom Was evident For all to see And the people in the area Began to recognise him And to realise He was making All this fuss And more importantly Why The people were used To seeing this man Lying on the temple steps Begging for alms And now A miracle is taking place This man Who had been sitting down Each and every day Of his life Was now standing up He was walking about And he was jumping For joy But how could this be They thought And who are these Two men with him They latched on To Peter and John And they thought Well they must have Something to do with it They must have Something to do with it And quickly the crowd grew And they came running From all directions And the word Was spreading around And people wanted To see for themselves What had taken place there
[39:48] And what was going on At that time And when they did They were astonished They were astonished And they couldn't believe Their eyes At this man Running around And jumping about And they didn't know What to make of it They didn't know What to make of it And they stood there Gathered around Solomon's colonnade Solomon's colonnade Was a long covered porch With pillars All the way up it And they were standing Around there And they were taking All this in And they were trying To make sense of it Do you know what They must have been Looking Staring it says And eyeballing Peter and John With an aura Of mystery And wonder Because Peter spoke up He felt that he had Better say something In case this developed Into something else Now later on In the book of Acts We've got an example In Acts chapter 14 Of a similar situation In Lystra and Derbe
[40:49] Where Paul was Instrumental in the healing Of another lame beggar And the crowds That were primarily Gentiles When they saw that man Healed and when they saw That man was restored They thought That the gods Had come down From heaven And they wanted To begin to worship Paul But of course This caused great anguish To Paul And to his companions And they had Difficulty persuaded them To stop And how fickle Is the heart Of man And how easy It is for them To take a situation And interpret it wrongly Now I'm not saying That's what would have Happened there In Jerusalem On that day Or at that time But I think Peter and John Were maybe a little concerned That the crowds there Would ascribe the healing To them And glorify them Instead of bringing Glory to God So Peter speaks up He sets the record straight
[41:49] And not only that But he seizes the opportunity To preach the gospel As well Peter always grasped The opportunity To preach the gospel And to tell And to share The good news Of the risen And glorified Lord Jesus Christ Men of Israel He said to them Why do you wonder at this?
[42:14] He questions them And you know He could well be asking Why are you surprised at this? Have you forgotten How great God is? Have you forgotten How gracious He has been to us Over all these centuries?
[42:28] All the wonders He has done? He hasn't changed He's still the same He is the same Yesterday Today And forever We worship As they do An unchanging God He is unchanging The Alpha The Omega The beginning The end The unchanging God The same as I say Yesterday Today And forever And the question Why do you stare at us As though Through our own power Or piety We have made him walk It's nothing of us He was saying We are mere men Just instruments In God's hand We're not worthy of praise It's all of the Lord He said The God of Abraham The God of Isaac The God of Jacob The God of the Father Has glorified His servant
[43:28] Jesus It's all about Jesus It's all about Jesus It's all done In his name And he alone And no other Is worthy Of all the place And all the glory And then Peter Puts them on a spot He tells them The facts Concerning Jesus And further to that He reminds them Of their actions And rejection Of him In these recent days Rejected the Lord Jesus Christ The one who was sent To save them Rejected him Out of hand He said in verse 14 But you denied The holy And righteous one You asked For a murderer To be granted To you They had handed him Over to be killed They disowned him Before Pilate Even when Pilate
[44:29] Had decided That Jesus Had done nothing wrong Nothing Worthy Of death Pilate Was willing To release him But they insisted The Jews insisted That Jesus Should die And they asked That Barabbas A murderer A murderer Should be released Instead Can you imagine that What a mindset These people had Give us a murderer Crucify him Crucify him And that's what happened On that occasion It happened there And Peter Pulled no punches But do you know something He did it In love For he had a concern For these people He had a concern For their eternal welfare In verse 15 He says You killed the author Of life Whom God Raised From the dead Whom God
[45:31] Raised From The dead Peter and John Were witness to this They knew it They had seen The risen Lord Jesus Christ And so They testified To that Truth Can you imagine The crowd there They must have been stunned There's no record Of response There's no shouting Or argument They accepted What was being told Them by Peter Such Was the authority Of his preaching He spoke With such Conviction They listened And they were taking in Everything that he said And then he takes them Back to the reason Why they were gathered there The beggar And his healing And he explains How that healing Came about In verse 16 And his name By faith In his name He says Has made this man strong Whom you see and know And that faith Is through Jesus
[46:31] Who has given the man This perfect health In the presence Of you all By faith It's all By faith And the proof Stood there And there was no Denying it They could see What had taken place With their own eyes And they couldn't Deny it And it wasn't As I said Just physical healing But complete healing Body and soul As I mentioned Earlier Peter Peter now changes His tack For in verse 17 We see him there Address them As brothers Brothers He was compassionate Towards them He said And now Brothers I know That you acted In ignorance As did your ruler But what God Foretold By the mouth Of all the prophets That his That this Christ
[47:31] His Christ Would suffer He thus Fulfilled God promised That Jesus Would suffer And there In these days In Jerusalem It had been Fulfilled God the Father He knew this Would come to pass And he knew It was these Very people Who would inflict Suffering on Jesus The very ones He had come In the first instant To save Were the very ones Who inflicted Such suffering On Jesus Peter then begins To explain to them Though That it was through Their rejection Of Christ And therefore Their sin That God fulfilled The prophecies Of the Old Testament Prophecies relating To the Messiah's Suffering And we see them Time and time again In the pages Of the Old Testament Perhaps a couple We are more familiar With Would be perhaps Psalm 22 And Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53
[48:33] What a wonderful chapter You could almost Take that chapter Out of the book Of Isaiah And place it in Amongst the gospels So accurate Was it As to the suffering Of our Lord And Saviour Jesus Christ And it was the Jewish people Themselves Who inflicted That suffering On our Lord The very ones He had came To redeem Who rejected him They failed To recognize him They had looked For one who would Come in great power Not meek Humility They were looking For a king Not a child Not a baby When Jesus Come into this world They were looking For one who would Come with a sword And release their bondage Under the Romans And set them free And they failed To recognize Jesus When he came They got it all Wrong But now here's Peter Telling them
[49:33] It's not too late You can do something About it You don't have to live With this guilt You may not be able To change what happened He said But you can start Over with the Lord But how They may ask How can we start over How do we do it And Peter Give the answer In verse 19 He says Repent Therefore And turn back That your sins May be blotted Out And that time So refreshing May come From the presence Of the Lord And that he may send The Christ Appointed for you Jesus These people There that day All these years ago Were presented There and then With the opportunity To get right With God To set the record Straight They had got it All wrong Originally But God In his mercy Gave them
[50:34] Gave them a chance To rectify that And even To this Very day He does the same Thing For sinners Like you And like I He longs To set The record Straight He longs To wipe The slate For us And set us up And set us on the way New creatures In Christ Peter continues His exposition Of the gospel And he teaches The crowd Some more truths Regarding the risen Lord Jesus Christ And how By verse 26 God Having raised Up his servant Sent him to you First First the Jew To bless you By turning Every one of you From your wickedness Peter revealed To them God's plan For them But then We see Trouble looming We see
[51:34] Trouble looming And you know My friends It's a fact That wherever The true gospel Is preached Trouble Is never Far away Our enemy The devil Hates to see The gospel Being preached And people Being taken From darkness Into light He hates To see Souls Being won For God's Kingdom And he will Do his utmost To disrupt That work So we must Be on Our guard We must Be alert We're told The devil Roams around Seeking whom He may devour But we're told Also are we not Resist The devil And he will Free Flee from You On this Occasion He used The priests The captain Of the temple Guard And the Sadducees And as we See They came Along While Peter And John Were still Speaking to
[52:34] The people An exception Was taken In the first Instance To the disciples Teaching the People For the priests Felt that this Was the role The sole role Of the recognized Rabbis Or teachers So they took Exception at These men Teaching the People It wasn't That place They shouldn't Be doing it That's the Work of the Rabbi So they took Exception At that And secondly The Sadducees They took Great exception To see them Speaking of The resurrection Of the dead For they Strongly denied This belief And had they Allowed them To continue Talking about The resurrection They were afraid Many would have Come to believe This great truth And therefore The Sadducees Themselves Would have been Discredited So they arrested Them End of meeting That's it It's over But it wasn't It wasn't
[53:34] God had Other plans Because we read That a spirit Was at work We know a spirit Is at work Because we read But many of those Who had heard The word believed And the number Of men Came to about Five thousand Five thousand Believed there On that occasion And that Was only men It didn't It didn't include Women And perhaps Even children Who may have been there And who may Have accepted The truth Of the gospel Of Jesus Christ So on that Special day In the beggar's Experience And through Peter's sermon Many of those Who heard the word Believed They heard the word And they believed The Holy Spirit Was moving Mightly In those days And converting Needy souls There was a revival Going on
[54:35] There was a revival Happening in these days And how We need The moving Of that same spirit In our land In these days Do we pray for it?
[54:48] Do we ask God To rend the heavens And to come down Amongst us In reviving power? Because you know My friends When you look around Us in the world today That's what it's going To take To turn People Around There was a Scottish Doctor of bygone days A doctor W.P. Mackay And he wrote a hymn Revive us again It was called And the last verse And chorus Go like this Revive us again Full each heart With thy love May each soul Be rekindled With fire From above Hallelujah Thine the glory Hallelujah Amen Hallelujah Thine the glory Revive us Again Oh that the Lord Will visit us In such Reviving power You know perhaps You're here tonight And you feel that In the past Somewhere Just like these Pharisees Just like these people Who condemned Jesus
[55:49] Perhaps you feel That you got it wrong With God Regarding his son Our Lord Jesus Christ Perhaps there was A day when you Rejected him When you turned Away from him You turned your back On him Well I can tell you The fact that You're here tonight Is a good thing It's a good thing That you're present In the means of grace Because Peter's words In verse 19 Are for you They're for you tonight Just as it were For the people Around the temple Over 2000 years ago The same instruction Applies Repent Therefore And turn back That your sins May be blotted out Repent And turn To Jesus And I can tell you That if you do so You'll receive Such Peace in your heart And blessings In your soul You will know What it is To have Your sins
[56:50] Forgiven Whatever you've done In the past It can And will Be forgiven By God If you come To him In sincerity And ask him To come Into your heart He will do that He will come And dwell in your heart In the person And presence Of the Holy Spirit If you have the faith To believe That he is able To do it He Will do it And then you too Will be walking And leaping And praising God Perhaps not in the way The beggar was But certainly In your heart Of hearts But what about those Of us here tonight Who profess Jesus Christ Well I can just point To Peter And ask And encourage Each and every one Of us as committed Christians To follow Peter's example In the sharing Of the good news Of salvation Through faith
[57:51] In the risen Lord Jesus Christ May he By his grace Enable us To do that May he Enable us To witness Toward Jesus In what he has Done for us And to be bold In our witness That others Will perhaps see What he has done In our lives Not for our glory But that They would desire To know him For themselves The late Vance Havner An American preacher Once said We do not Have a secret To be hidden But a story To be heralded And he also said The gospel Is not Just Something We come To church To hear It is something We go From church To tell
[58:51] The gospel The gospel Is not Just something We come To church To hear It is something We go From church Out there To tell May the lord Enable us To do that For his glory Honor And praise Amen May the lord Bless These few thoughts To us This evening We are going to Conclude our time Of worship To go This time By singing To the praise Of god From psalm 23 Sing psalm's version On page 28 Psalm 23 Sing psalm's version On page 28 The lord is my shepherd No one shall I know He makes me lie down Where the green pastures grow He leads me to rest Where the calm waters flow Let's sing in closing To god's praise The lord is my shepherd
[59:54] No one shall I know He makes me lie down Where the green pastures grow He leads me to rest Where the calm waters flow My wandering steps He brings back to his way In straight paths of righteousness Make me stay And this he has done His great name to display Though I walk through death's valley Where darkness is near Because you are with me
[60:59] No evil I fear Your rod and your staff bring Me comfort and cheer There yet side of my enemies A table you spread The oil of rejoicing You pour on my head My cup overflows I'm graciously fed So surely your covenant Mercy and grace Will follow me closely In all of my ways
[62:02] I will dwell in the house Of the Lord All my days Our gracious God And our heavenly father May it be a portion That we will dwell In the house of the Lord All our days Heavenly father We thank you for Your presence with us This evening And now we pray That as we go our separate ways You will grant each one of us Safe passage to our homes And that your grace Your mercy And your peace Rest upon us all And those whom we love Both now And forever In Jesus precious name Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen